Victus is Latin for “Way of Life” and the Victus Study Skills System offers a system that will help students learn better habits that will help them not only during their school years but will help them learn skills that can be applied throughout life. Students often hear that they need to study more but many don’t know how to do this effectively. The Victus Study Skills System was developed by teachers who have worked with students and know what they really need to make their study effective. Victus can be used by schools or homeschoolers. Many topics are covered in the program that helped improve their study habits. Topics included in the study are setting goals, time management, test talking, effective notes, and reading comprehension. All of these different areas lead to more effective study habits. The website is full of videos that explain all the different parts of the system.

As the name implies the Victus Study Skills System is a system. It is built on three foundational ideas. The first is for the student to understand where they are now. Then they work at figuring out where they want to be. Finally, with an understanding where they are and where they are heading they can begin to formulate how they will get there. The lessons work the student through this process.

The Teacher Edition starts out with an introduction to the Victus Study Skill System which goes into the philosophy of the program. It helps the teacher understand the purpose behind the program. The next session helps goes over some general directions on teaching the System that can also be used when teaching other things. The third section contains the lessons. There are ten lessons that should take about 30 minutes each. There are course information and copies of the student workbook pages with the answers. The final section on the book has an appendix that contains extra exercises and other items to enhance or reinforce the lessons.

The Student Workbook helps the student work through the three main points of the Victus Study Skill System. As they complete the lessons they will have pages that help them exam where they are today. Then it helps them to think about what kind of goals they have for themselves. What do they see as their life mission. Finally, there workbook helps them to exam and practice the skills needed to move toward their personal goals. The workbook is consumable and each student in the family will need their own workbook. Because the pages contain checklists and tables you really need the student workbook to use this program effectively.

How We Used It At Our House

I spent a couple of days reading through the introductory material a few times before I began to teach the lessons. After we started the lessons I would teach the lesson and then give Joshua a couple of days to work through the workbook pages for that lesson.

The Results

I was excited to start my review of the Victus Study Skills System because I felt that Joshua could benefit not just from learning better study skills in general but also improve the other aspects for life such as goal setting and time management. The system contains wonderful materials and ideas. The way that things are broken down into different activities make it easy for the student to take an in-depth look at themselves and their goals. But it just didn’t seem to connect for Joshua. He seemed to give it a minimal effort. I think part of the problem was that I wasn’t sure how to round things out or how to draw my son in.

I noticed that they have two other products that we did not review one is a DIY Student Workbook that contains all the information needed for the student to work through the material on their own. But the other product is the Classroom Video. The video shows the process in action and shows the ten lessons being taught to a group of students and teachers. I think that would help me both as the teacher and my son as the student. I think that I might wait a few months, purchase the video and make another run at Victus Study Skills System.

I love everything that is covered in this course. The idea that the system is taught with three main ideas that help a student build not only study skills but also help develop life skills makes the Victus program different from other study skills programs. Despite are lackluster results I think it’s a great product and look forward to making a few changes and trying again.

Ages and Prices

The Victus Study Skills System can be taught to all ages but the younger the student the more parent involvement is needed. The Student Workbook is designed to work best with those 5th grade through 12th grade.

The Teacher Edition is $40.00

The Student Workbook is $20.00

The Student DIY Workbook is $25.00

Classroom Video is $30.00

Finding Other Reviews

Please click the graphic below to see how the Victus Study Skills System worked in other families.

God’s World News is dedicated to the mission of providing news and information to Christian families. They have a variety of news sources for every age from PreK through Adult. With memberships you now have access to more information including online resources for every age level.
Our family reviewed Trak the monthly magazine for high school students. The high school level version offers online content as well as a webpage designed for teens. Trak magazine has in-depth articles, humor, and current events. They are written with the high schooler in mind from a biblical worldview. Trak magazine unlike those for younger ages does not offer as much educational aids. It is designed to be read and discussed by high schoolers and their parents. It also allows them to dig deeper into those topics that are the greatest interest. On the Trak page you can download a digital copy of the monthly magazine. There is also a Globe Trot section that takes you to other articles related to current events. There are also links to different biographies.

You can click on the link for Teen Content on the web. There you will find a variety of topics and links. You can choose the grade level of the student. The articles included are timely current events, biographies, SciTech, Must Know, Beliefs, Fun Stuff, Arts, and Live Culture. Included in some of the articles are sections that direct discussion or give ideas for further action.

I really enjoyed the online content myself and like how in the Fun Stuff section it was divided by topic and there were explanations given for some of the political cartoons to give better understanding.

My son enjoyed reading the magazine and I think he like having the opportunity to get something that was just for him. Some of the views of God’s World News don’t match our families in all areas but those were also things that we could use as starting points for discussions together. I appreciate that all the content was safe for my child to read and I didn’t have to worry about inappropriate advertising. Their magazine offers a great variety of short articles, more in-depth content, and humor.

Trak is designed for high schoolers. The cost is $28 for 10 monthly issues that also include all the great online content as well as the physical copy of the magazine.

God’s World News offers a wide range of news products for students of all ages. To check out other families review Trak or any of the other five editions please click on the graphic below.

So the question this month is “How’s It Going”. For the most part it is going well. Joshua has made great strides in working independently and getting the job. He has a couple of areas that he needs to put more effort in. Also, we have discovered he has math gaps that we didn’t really address in the past. We have just starting working on that using IXL.com. Watch for a review in the future.

Also, I think hampering our efforts was some of the chaos that was our life. I started working and it took a few weeks to figure out exactly how it was going to work with meeting Joshua needs while working part-time. We have come up with a good schedule now. My high schoolers needs me to be consistent so that he can be consistent as well. You know that whole modeling correct behavior.

We completed our evaluations last month for school so now we can pursue taking some classes through Florida Virtual School if that is direction we decide to pursue as well.

Big accomplishments were so much in academics this month as they were in the area of life skills. Joshua really stepped up to the plate and has been taking on new responsibilities at home now that his older brothers are gone. One big project was getting Hannah moved into her brother’s old room. We had a friend from church help with the repair, painting, and floor tile work. But everything of Hannah’s was scattered around the entire house. It was such a blessing to come home from work one afternoon to find that Joshua had worked with Hannah to get the clean up work done and the furniture moved in and set up.

So I think overall it’s been a good journey so far. We have some things to work on but we know what those are and we are taking the steps necessary to see those things accomplished. So while it might not be perfect we at least know where we are headed.

Please click the link below to see the reflections of other homeschooling high schoolers.

PeopleKeys unlock the human potential will all kinds of products based on the DISC System. The DISC systems is a behavioral assessment. By accessing your behavioral or personality style it can help in many areas of life. It helps you to understand how you learn, what job types might be a good fit, and helps you know how to deal with other people. They provide tools for adults, teens, and children.

Hannah provided her time to help me review The Children’s Profile. The Children’s profile is easy to use and is geared to be used by the student with just a bit of guidance. There are some parts written for the adult but the actually assessment section is written directly to the child. The test included in this booklet is self-scoring. Additional material is provided to help both the student and parents/teachers in helping to understand what motivates the student and tips for helping the student do their best.

Hannah took about 30 minutes to complete the DISCover Your Personality Style page. She took her time to make sure that she read through each question and to make sure what her choice was. She highlighted her choice in each line. Counted up score and used the Style Graph to graph her results. She discovered that she didn’t have any area that was really strong but her top two results were I and S which resulted in a blended style. On the Four Personality Style page it showed that IS personalities are people oriented. We also read over the individual information for Influencing and Steadfast. From what I know of my daughter this was a pretty accurate assessment.

The Children’s profile is designed to be used once but Hannah wanted me to complete the assessment as well. Taking in consideration that this quiz was developed for children I came out a very strong C for Conscientious. After reading through this style I think it was pretty accurate as well.

I think having a way to clearly look at your child’s personality in some objective ways can be very helpful in knowing the best way to work with your child. I also think there is a lot of benefit in the parent knowing their style as well because it can help your reflect on how you are interacting with others. One of the things that really stood out to me in Understanding the “I” Style page has a paragraph on Influencing the Child with the C Adult. “You can help him learn to become more detail and task oriented,…Don’t push for perfection, but rather for improvement, and recognize efforts on the child’s part.” I know that this is something I have had to work on a lot over the years of homeschooling so I can see how this would be great advice especially for newer homeschoolers.

The Children’s Profile is intended for students ages 9 – 13. It sells for $15. It contains everything you need to do the personality quiz and contains lots of information on all personality styles so that you have everything you need in one package.

PeopleKeys offers a variety of products so make sure you click the graphic below to learn about their products. I know I’m interested in learning about the products for the teen level.